I actually prefer SWTOR's story telling to TSW's Templar story, which is what I got to experience. SWTOR's cutscenes are not as long winded as TSW's and have a better flow and pacing.
On a side note, I find it absolutely hilarious that Funcom takes a poke at Dan Brown in the game, when his stories absolutely destroy TSW's. Say what you want about his writing ability but his stories are way better than this "random Joe Shmoe swallows a fly, gains magical powers and has the Templars knocking on his door begging to recruit him" crap.
Goodness ... it mentions silent hill, dan brown, tomb raider, HP Lovecraft ... all which have influenced the game which is written by Ragnar Tornquist who wrote the story of the game, The Longest Journey, and obviously has a fanbase who like his stories. He wasn't poking Dan Brown in the game ... it was for referential humor. You'll see so many other game and movie references if you take the time to progress in the game.
Can't really judge the story of TSW without finishing it yet. SWTOR on the other hand had good story arcs in some classes while others were meh. What icked me most about SWTOR story line at least in the classes I played were the disconnection between Chapters 1 2 and 3 ... I really really liked the Trooper Chapter 1 .. but 2 and 3 went off another tangent and I was disappointed even though I really loved Elara Dorne.
but 2 and 3 went off another tangent and I was disappointed even though I really loved Elara Dorne.
/e points and laughs...
It was the accent wasnt it? damn Brits and their damn sexy way with words...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
I loved SWTOR leveling, but did spacebar many of the menial quests non story based quests. I found having choices made it more immersive for some quests, but unnecessary for many others.
I think someone that tones down the amount of dialog, but gives the user choice when it comes to the important quest lines, can really keep just the strengths of the SWTOR model.
I had ( and am having ) fun with SWTOR still. I am doing betas for TSW now and just simply am loving the game. Just because Funcom had done some things in the past wrong or whatever people are afraid to keep trying things by them even though many of those mistakes dont work there anymore ( hehe ). But perhaps your right, Im sure they got making cheese right on the first shot, no mistakes and I bet it was DELICIOUS!!!! ...... Ugh.
I had ( and am having ) fun with SWTOR still. I am doing betas for TSW now and just simply am loving the game. Just because Funcom had done some things in the past wrong or whatever people are afraid to keep trying things by them even though many of those mistakes dont work there anymore ( hehe ). But perhaps your right, Im sure they got making cheese right on the first shot, no mistakes and I bet it was DELICIOUS!!!! ...... Ugh.
TSW is horrible
bad graphics the yare just that bad
horrible animation
UNBALANCE pvp
the only good idea is the moder world settings but that will soon be overshadowed by world of darkness
I had ( and am having ) fun with SWTOR still. I am doing betas for TSW now and just simply am loving the game. Just because Funcom had done some things in the past wrong or whatever people are afraid to keep trying things by them even though many of those mistakes dont work there anymore ( hehe ). But perhaps your right, Im sure they got making cheese right on the first shot, no mistakes and I bet it was DELICIOUS!!!! ...... Ugh.
TSW is horrible
bad graphics the yare just that bad
horrible animation
UNBALANCE pvp
the only good idea is the moder world settings but that will soon be overshadowed by world of darkness
Graphics are a very personal thing & more about taste than technical prowess, some love TERA's graphics for example while I utterly hate them, I don't say the TERA graphics are "bad" I dislike the asian aesthetics they represent, their lack of grit. I think TSW graphics suit the game perfectly, have yet to see anything that looks badly out of place with them.
The animation in TSW isn't bad at all, it could use a little smoothing out but bearing in mind it's a beta so will have debug programs etc running in the background a little animation stilting is expected - it's not quite the finished article.
My only gripes so far are the limitation on number of active quests that you can have in your journal at one time & a few bugs to do with the text displays (text corruption making it unreadable often) a couple of bugged quests too (Voracious Wendigo not spawning).
I don't understand people who complain about Story and Cutscenes.
Isn't there enough MMORPGs WITHOUT these elements to entertain those who don't like them?
Why rag on games that are trying to appeal to people who DO want these elements?
i am not against personal story as 1 tool of the game, or 1 theme speaking for theme-parks.
BUT, it has to be fully optional. you should have no disadvantage, even not a minor one, if you avoid this storyline with patience. same btw, if you avoid ALL quests starting from day 1. well, this is NOT given in SWTOR, GW2 or TSW. thats why they are called theme-park and not sandbox. or at least sandpark.
Who just came up with the idea that an MMO needs a pre-determined peronal story which in most cases even is 100 % linear ?
They exist in SWTOR, TSW, GW2. Some are more and some are less entertaining. All have in common that you can enjoy them one time at most and they are completely unnecessary in an MMO. Imo these are wasted resources better invested into other features.
Well, having not played TSW yet (had better things to do yesterday), I can't compare TSW's way of handling/presenting the personal story with how it's done in SWTOR.
But what I can say is that anybody who says that (pre-determined) personal stories are "completely unnecessary in an MMO " doesn't have a clue where MMOs come from!
Today's MMOs have sprung from MMORPGs. Which in turn are based on the playergroup concept of pen&paper RPG (as opposed to the pure storyline concept featured in singleplayer RPG PC games).
Now, if you were to ask any D&D (or other choice of p&pRPG) player if their game/dungeon master ever just dropped them into a fight which was followed by another fight and another fight and another fight, etc. ad nauseam (or the end of the session) without anything like a story, any actual roleplaying option, most will probably say no, and of those who do say yes, most will probably say that they barred that guy from ever GMing again.
Of course you can just let your gamers loose killing monsters to get to the next level... but wouldn't you rather feel some sort of progress other than knowing "I have now killed Goblin #15973, no, wait, #15974"?
Guess what, that's why there are quests (in p&pRPG and MMORPG).
Now, the problem with generic quest is that everybody does them, so there's little "personal" flavor to them: doesn't matter if it was my cleric or that knight over there or the thief that just got married at the inn, they all had killed that dragon Xzfgzgfzx at some point in time.
But making it more personal, well, makes it more unique.
Of course, unless we actually get to the point where MMO(RPG)s are actually run like p&pRPG sessions i.e. with some GM creating personalized content for his group, the best we can hope for is much like adventure modules for p&pRPG: a pre-determined adventure usually following a certain (semi-)linear course, usually with certain hook ideas to be attached to player characters the GM chooses.
But to whose arse do you pin those hooks to then, if
a) the group may constantly shift by new ppl joining, old ppl dropping, and
b) a huge percantage of today's MMO gamers are not even remotely interested in grouping?
Solution: the individual gamer's character obviously!
So yeah, if I compare SWTOR to many other MMOs I've played, heck yeah, where I may have gone "did my quests/raids for today, done" in other games, where the storyline was good in SWTOR I wanted to keep going to know what happens next to my character.
I assume this may be too hard to understand for casual gamers who only have 3-5 hrs per week for the game and need to fill that time with the most epic PvP confrontation. *shrug*
swtor might be alot of things but if there is something it does right that s the story
TSW simply cant compete storywise with stwor
nice try from the funcoms fangirls tho..nice try
I played SWTOR both in beta and after release and one thing I can say is that story presentation was not very good and quest system was pure garbage. And I'm not a fangirl but a fanboy. Have nice day and all.
no one likes swtor not even the people who play it
So I take it you are saying there's about 1.3 Mio people subscribed to SWTOR who are happy to pay money for being "entertained" by something they don't like... or did they just forget to un-subscribe?
Makes me wonder how many of those approx. 6 Mio people watching "Celebrity Apprentice" every Sunday actually just forget to turn off their TV?
I hate large story lines myself, I just want action. Kill those people? Ok I don't want to know why. Is it just me or is there to much emphasis on story now? I just want to kill, get rich or die trying. Gw2 looks like I can just play and kill stuff and not give a dam. Then get rewarded after death of many minions.
TSW wins this competition in story telling for me, mostly due to style and delivery. SWTOR just bored me with static camera placement and dull environs.
Sorry but that made no sense...and I dont like SWTOR.
A story cannot be bad because of static camera placement in a dull environment. The one and only thing SWTOR did good was the story, but that is Bioware for you. The fact that the items listed as being bad for SWTOR for you was not even story directed speaks volumns here...just like the article which seems to be trying really hard to find flaws with SWTOR while attempting to trump up TSW while still stating its far more linear and has no choices.
One would think that if you were trying to prove one story was better than the other you would actually be making points about the STORIES and nothing else.
Now I feel dirty for defending SWTOR...
When the story is delivered via visual medium as in the case of movies and video games, the camera placement and environment/setting/world the scenes take place in are EXTREMELY important to the story and enjoyment of said story.
I hate large story lines myself, I just want action. Kill those people? Ok I don't want to know why. Is it just me or is there to much emphasis on story now? I just want to kill, get rich or die trying. Gw2 looks like I can just play and kill stuff and not give a dam. Then get rewarded after death of many minions.
That's why they make games like Tera. Perfect for players like yourself who just want combat. They make games like TSW for players like me who want to get engrossed in a game world via puzzles and tons of exploration and deeeeep combat systems. GW2 has this too, so not sure why you think GW2 doesn't have story, it does. TONS of it.
I had ( and am having ) fun with SWTOR still. I am doing betas for TSW now and just simply am loving the game. Just because Funcom had done some things in the past wrong or whatever people are afraid to keep trying things by them even though many of those mistakes dont work there anymore ( hehe ). But perhaps your right, Im sure they got making cheese right on the first shot, no mistakes and I bet it was DELICIOUS!!!! ...... Ugh.
TSW is horrible
bad graphics the yare just that bad
horrible animation
UNBALANCE pvp
the only good idea is the moder world settings but that will soon be overshadowed by world of darkness
are you in closed beta, if so you broke NDA
there is no PVP in this open beta weekend
plus how can it be imbalanced anyway if everyone can spec the same skills?
wether the story is better than swtors story inst the point (though i think its better), the point is TSW isn't all about the story to the detriment of the rest of the game, its not corridor -> cutscene -> corridor -> cutscene -> corridor -> cutscene like some sort of CoD the MMO.
I like the story quite a bit (of course I loved Ragnar Tornquist other two games so no suprise there), my only problem is that it actually feels quite awkward that my character just makes funny faces (for me anyway). I don't even necessarily need choices just a voice would be nice.
TSW wins this competition in story telling for me, mostly due to style and delivery. SWTOR just bored me with static camera placement and dull environs.
Sorry but that made no sense...and I dont like SWTOR.
A story cannot be bad because of static camera placement in a dull environment. The one and only thing SWTOR did good was the story, but that is Bioware for you. The fact that the items listed as being bad for SWTOR for you was not even story directed speaks volumns here...just like the article which seems to be trying really hard to find flaws with SWTOR while attempting to trump up TSW while still stating its far more linear and has no choices.
One would think that if you were trying to prove one story was better than the other you would actually be making points about the STORIES and nothing else.
Now I feel dirty for defending SWTOR...
When the story is delivered via visual medium as in the case of movies and video games, the camera placement and environment/setting/world the scenes take place in are EXTREMELY important to the story and enjoyment of said story.
Jeeez... you have little clue, do you?
The story in itself remains the story, nothing more, nothing less.
It's the presentation of the story, that takes it beyond that... or makes it fall: a dull storyteller will probably break even the most interesting story but a good one can make even a boring tale fun.
Now, the visual presentation of the cutscenes in SWTOR pretty much sticks to the classic standards of film making... should you be used to 5 sec cutscene sequences, well, I'd actually feel sorry for you.
Now, you also point at the "environment/setting/world"... which frankly I find weird.
The worlds are classic SW, and that goes down to the the looks of the landscapes, the style and feel of the cities, the settlements, even the interior of houses.
Yes, clothing, uniforms, style of technology, diversity of races, presentation of the common people (NPC) all of that seems well enough.
Of course, there could always be a bit more... and yet, if you knew the art of visual presentation you'd know that sometimes less is enough or even more.
So, maybe it is you who just doesn't like what he sees in SWTOR?
When the story is delivered via visual medium as in the case of movies and video games, the camera placement and environment/setting/world the scenes take place in are EXTREMELY important to the story and enjoyment of said story.
Tom has a ball (pan left) Tom has a red ball (stop center and pan out to sunsetting over a still lake) Tom has a big red ball (begins to rain softly)...
No, I cannot imagine that any change in camera placement, movement or setting will make me more interested in Tom or his big red ball.
Again, camera is brought up because the actual topic...the story...cannot be defended. Chewbacca tactics and red herrings...and the fact even the websites article is doing it is a bad sign for the game...can no one actually compare the actual STORYLINE?!?
STORYLINE...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
When the story is delivered via visual medium as in the case of movies and video games, the camera placement and environment/setting/world the scenes take place in are EXTREMELY important to the story and enjoyment of said story.
Tom has a ball (pan left) Tom has a red ball (stop center and pan out to sunsetting over a still lake) Tom has a big red ball (begins to rain softly)...
No, I cannot imagine that any change in camera placement, movement or setting will make me more interested in Tom or his big red ball.
Again, camera is brought up because the actual topic...the story...cannot be defended. Chewbacca tactics and red herrings...and the fact even the websites article is doing it is a bad sign for the game...can no one actually compare the actual STORYLINE?!?
STORYLINE...
I could argue that your analogy of Tom's ball, set to the right music and filmed that way, could be telling a story unto itself. Reminiscent of games like Journey and Flower. That's how I see it anyway. Actual storyline, the genre's are different but let me defend how it's delivered.
SWTOR - Main class quest (I enjoyed these for the most part, although pacing was thrown off due to being level gated and having to do tons of sidequests that didn't matter to your overall story) , planet quests and general run of the mill sidequests. None of them interacting with each other, that I could find.
TSW - Main storyline flavored by your faction, side quests in each zone that, surprise surprise, actually compliment or reflect the main storyline in every way. That's just the quests that are available in the weekend beta, I believe there are faction quests that aren't turned on yet.
Who just came up with the idea that an MMO needs a pre-determined peronal story which in most cases even is 100 % linear ?
They exist in SWTOR, TSW, GW2. Some are more and some are less entertaining. All have in common that you can enjoy them one time at most and they are completely unnecessary in an MMO. Imo these are wasted resources better invested into other features.
"other features" are done in mmo's now. bringing in an interactive story is an attempt to help the player level from 1 - cap without feeling a burden of grinding over and over and to actually enjoy the experience. every mmo is linear if you think about it, everyone is directed to the end state of max level :P
some may like stories, some may not. TERA has bugger all story compared to TSW and SWTOR, maybe you should give that a crack if you havn't already
Who just came up with the idea that an MMO needs a pre-determined peronal story which in most cases even is 100 % linear ?
They exist in SWTOR, TSW, GW2. Some are more and some are less entertaining. All have in common that you can enjoy them one time at most and they are completely unnecessary in an MMO. Imo these are wasted resources better invested into other features.
"other features" are done in mmo's now. bringing in an interactive story is an attempt to help the player level from 1 - cap without feeling a burden of grinding over and over and to actually enjoy the experience. every mmo is linear if you think about it, everyone is directed to the end state of max level :P
some may like stories, some may not. TERA has bugger all story compared to TSW and SWTOR, maybe you should give that a crack if you havn't already
I think just about anything that takes away from the "instant gratification" feel of today's MMOs is a step in the right direction. At least for MMORPGs.
I'm sure (or at least I hope) that eventually all those people like Anthur will eventually leave the MMORPGs and just go for MMOIAGwLS (Massively Multiplayer Online Instant Action Game with Levelled Stats).
It doesn't surprise me at all to find that the story-telling element in TSW is more interestingly delivered, well voice-acted and and "snappier" (as MikeB put it) than in TOR. That's a stamp of Ragnar Tornquist's involvement; every game that he has a major role in has a similar style. It's one of the main things I was looking forward to from TSW knowing he was involved.
Seems my expectation in that regard won't go unsatisfied.
Comments
I actually prefer SWTOR's story telling to TSW's Templar story, which is what I got to experience. SWTOR's cutscenes are not as long winded as TSW's and have a better flow and pacing.
On a side note, I find it absolutely hilarious that Funcom takes a poke at Dan Brown in the game, when his stories absolutely destroy TSW's. Say what you want about his writing ability but his stories are way better than this "random Joe Shmoe swallows a fly, gains magical powers and has the Templars knocking on his door begging to recruit him" crap.
Goodness ... it mentions silent hill, dan brown, tomb raider, HP Lovecraft ... all which have influenced the game which is written by Ragnar Tornquist who wrote the story of the game, The Longest Journey, and obviously has a fanbase who like his stories. He wasn't poking Dan Brown in the game ... it was for referential humor. You'll see so many other game and movie references if you take the time to progress in the game.
http://www.gamespot.com/the-longest-journey/reviews/the-longest-journey-review-2594178/
Can't really judge the story of TSW without finishing it yet. SWTOR on the other hand had good story arcs in some classes while others were meh. What icked me most about SWTOR story line at least in the classes I played were the disconnection between Chapters 1 2 and 3 ... I really really liked the Trooper Chapter 1 .. but 2 and 3 went off another tangent and I was disappointed even though I really loved Elara Dorne.
/e points and laughs...
It was the accent wasnt it? damn Brits and their damn sexy way with words...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
I loved SWTOR leveling, but did spacebar many of the menial quests non story based quests. I found having choices made it more immersive for some quests, but unnecessary for many others.
I think someone that tones down the amount of dialog, but gives the user choice when it comes to the important quest lines, can really keep just the strengths of the SWTOR model.
I had ( and am having ) fun with SWTOR still. I am doing betas for TSW now and just simply am loving the game. Just because Funcom had done some things in the past wrong or whatever people are afraid to keep trying things by them even though many of those mistakes dont work there anymore ( hehe ). But perhaps your right, Im sure they got making cheese right on the first shot, no mistakes and I bet it was DELICIOUS!!!! ...... Ugh.
TSW is horrible
bad graphics the yare just that bad
horrible animation
UNBALANCE pvp
the only good idea is the moder world settings but that will soon be overshadowed by world of darkness
Graphics are a very personal thing & more about taste than technical prowess, some love TERA's graphics for example while I utterly hate them, I don't say the TERA graphics are "bad" I dislike the asian aesthetics they represent, their lack of grit. I think TSW graphics suit the game perfectly, have yet to see anything that looks badly out of place with them.
The animation in TSW isn't bad at all, it could use a little smoothing out but bearing in mind it's a beta so will have debug programs etc running in the background a little animation stilting is expected - it's not quite the finished article.
My only gripes so far are the limitation on number of active quests that you can have in your journal at one time & a few bugs to do with the text displays (text corruption making it unreadable often) a couple of bugged quests too (Voracious Wendigo not spawning).
Quite impressed with it so far.
I can agree that it has poor animations. But bad graphics? What are you smoking?
i am not against personal story as 1 tool of the game, or 1 theme speaking for theme-parks.
BUT, it has to be fully optional. you should have no disadvantage, even not a minor one, if you avoid this storyline with patience. same btw, if you avoid ALL quests starting from day 1. well, this is NOT given in SWTOR, GW2 or TSW. thats why they are called theme-park and not sandbox. or at least sandpark.
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
no one likes swtor not even the people who play it
Well, having not played TSW yet (had better things to do yesterday), I can't compare TSW's way of handling/presenting the personal story with how it's done in SWTOR.
But what I can say is that anybody who says that (pre-determined) personal stories are "completely unnecessary in an MMO " doesn't have a clue where MMOs come from!
Today's MMOs have sprung from MMORPGs. Which in turn are based on the playergroup concept of pen&paper RPG (as opposed to the pure storyline concept featured in singleplayer RPG PC games).
Now, if you were to ask any D&D (or other choice of p&pRPG) player if their game/dungeon master ever just dropped them into a fight which was followed by another fight and another fight and another fight, etc. ad nauseam (or the end of the session) without anything like a story, any actual roleplaying option, most will probably say no, and of those who do say yes, most will probably say that they barred that guy from ever GMing again.
Of course you can just let your gamers loose killing monsters to get to the next level... but wouldn't you rather feel some sort of progress other than knowing "I have now killed Goblin #15973, no, wait, #15974"?
Guess what, that's why there are quests (in p&pRPG and MMORPG).
Now, the problem with generic quest is that everybody does them, so there's little "personal" flavor to them: doesn't matter if it was my cleric or that knight over there or the thief that just got married at the inn, they all had killed that dragon Xzfgzgfzx at some point in time.
But making it more personal, well, makes it more unique.
Of course, unless we actually get to the point where MMO(RPG)s are actually run like p&pRPG sessions i.e. with some GM creating personalized content for his group, the best we can hope for is much like adventure modules for p&pRPG: a pre-determined adventure usually following a certain (semi-)linear course, usually with certain hook ideas to be attached to player characters the GM chooses.
But to whose arse do you pin those hooks to then, if
a) the group may constantly shift by new ppl joining, old ppl dropping, and
b) a huge percantage of today's MMO gamers are not even remotely interested in grouping?
Solution: the individual gamer's character obviously!
So yeah, if I compare SWTOR to many other MMOs I've played, heck yeah, where I may have gone "did my quests/raids for today, done" in other games, where the storyline was good in SWTOR I wanted to keep going to know what happens next to my character.
I assume this may be too hard to understand for casual gamers who only have 3-5 hrs per week for the game and need to fill that time with the most epic PvP confrontation. *shrug*
I played SWTOR both in beta and after release and one thing I can say is that story presentation was not very good and quest system was pure garbage. And I'm not a fangirl but a fanboy. Have nice day and all.
So I take it you are saying there's about 1.3 Mio people subscribed to SWTOR who are happy to pay money for being "entertained" by something they don't like... or did they just forget to un-subscribe?
Makes me wonder how many of those approx. 6 Mio people watching "Celebrity Apprentice" every Sunday actually just forget to turn off their TV?
Probably all of them, right?
When the story is delivered via visual medium as in the case of movies and video games, the camera placement and environment/setting/world the scenes take place in are EXTREMELY important to the story and enjoyment of said story.
That's why they make games like Tera. Perfect for players like yourself who just want combat. They make games like TSW for players like me who want to get engrossed in a game world via puzzles and tons of exploration and deeeeep combat systems. GW2 has this too, so not sure why you think GW2 doesn't have story, it does. TONS of it.
are you in closed beta, if so you broke NDA
there is no PVP in this open beta weekend
plus how can it be imbalanced anyway if everyone can spec the same skills?
and yes it is "swtor done right"
much like gw2 is "warhammer done right"
wether the story is better than swtors story inst the point (though i think its better), the point is TSW isn't all about the story to the detriment of the rest of the game, its not corridor -> cutscene -> corridor -> cutscene -> corridor -> cutscene like some sort of CoD the MMO.
I like the story quite a bit (of course I loved Ragnar Tornquist other two games so no suprise there), my only problem is that it actually feels quite awkward that my character just makes funny faces (for me anyway). I don't even necessarily need choices just a voice would be nice.
Jeeez... you have little clue, do you?
The story in itself remains the story, nothing more, nothing less.
It's the presentation of the story, that takes it beyond that... or makes it fall: a dull storyteller will probably break even the most interesting story but a good one can make even a boring tale fun.
Now, the visual presentation of the cutscenes in SWTOR pretty much sticks to the classic standards of film making... should you be used to 5 sec cutscene sequences, well, I'd actually feel sorry for you.
Now, you also point at the "environment/setting/world"... which frankly I find weird.
The worlds are classic SW, and that goes down to the the looks of the landscapes, the style and feel of the cities, the settlements, even the interior of houses.
Yes, clothing, uniforms, style of technology, diversity of races, presentation of the common people (NPC) all of that seems well enough.
Of course, there could always be a bit more... and yet, if you knew the art of visual presentation you'd know that sometimes less is enough or even more.
So, maybe it is you who just doesn't like what he sees in SWTOR?
Tom has a ball (pan left) Tom has a red ball (stop center and pan out to sunsetting over a still lake) Tom has a big red ball (begins to rain softly)...
No, I cannot imagine that any change in camera placement, movement or setting will make me more interested in Tom or his big red ball.
Again, camera is brought up because the actual topic...the story...cannot be defended. Chewbacca tactics and red herrings...and the fact even the websites article is doing it is a bad sign for the game...can no one actually compare the actual STORYLINE?!?
STORYLINE...
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
I could argue that your analogy of Tom's ball, set to the right music and filmed that way, could be telling a story unto itself. Reminiscent of games like Journey and Flower. That's how I see it anyway. Actual storyline, the genre's are different but let me defend how it's delivered.
SWTOR - Main class quest (I enjoyed these for the most part, although pacing was thrown off due to being level gated and having to do tons of sidequests that didn't matter to your overall story) , planet quests and general run of the mill sidequests. None of them interacting with each other, that I could find.
TSW - Main storyline flavored by your faction, side quests in each zone that, surprise surprise, actually compliment or reflect the main storyline in every way. That's just the quests that are available in the weekend beta, I believe there are faction quests that aren't turned on yet.
"other features" are done in mmo's now. bringing in an interactive story is an attempt to help the player level from 1 - cap without feeling a burden of grinding over and over and to actually enjoy the experience. every mmo is linear if you think about it, everyone is directed to the end state of max level :P
some may like stories, some may not. TERA has bugger all story compared to TSW and SWTOR, maybe you should give that a crack if you havn't already
I think just about anything that takes away from the "instant gratification" feel of today's MMOs is a step in the right direction. At least for MMORPGs.
I'm sure (or at least I hope) that eventually all those people like Anthur will eventually leave the MMORPGs and just go for MMOIAGwLS (Massively Multiplayer Online Instant Action Game with Levelled Stats).
It doesn't surprise me at all to find that the story-telling element in TSW is more interestingly delivered, well voice-acted and and "snappier" (as MikeB put it) than in TOR. That's a stamp of Ragnar Tornquist's involvement; every game that he has a major role in has a similar style. It's one of the main things I was looking forward to from TSW knowing he was involved.
Seems my expectation in that regard won't go unsatisfied.